People have asked me why I am deciding to publish under my full real name and not a pen name or something else.

Yes, my friends, in real life my name is Sarah Jayne Nantais. Nantais is my married last name and it’s pronounced “Nah-da”. Threw you for a loop with that one, didn’t I?

I thought about being S. Nantais or S.J.Nantais or Sarah Nantais or something else entirely but I just couldn’t do it.

Truth be told, I absolutely despise my middle name. “Jayne” has a lot of history and issues behind it. But it’s still my name and it’s the name I’ve had since I was born. So I decided that I would put my whole name out there to gain some sort of closure and acceptance with that name.

Is it working? Yeah kinda.

As for the names of the characters in my stories and the names of places, I used to have this really old dictionary I bought at a used book store that broke down the roots of words. I mean going back to the Latin, Greek etc of common English words we use everyday. I unfortunately no longer have that book in my possession for various reasons, but I had written down all the ones I had liked. I don’t remember the meanings for all of them any more, but I still use them.

For the characters, I do have a book of baby names that I had bought when I was 18. (Yeah, try not getting strange looks in the bookstore picking that up. It doesn’t help that when I was 18 I looked like I was 9). I try to find names that have interesting meanings and aren’t overly common (HA! As if you couldn’t tell from my last post) and sometimes I will use the internet if I’m looking for a name from a certain culture/country like Japanese, Greek, or Welsh etc. Sometimes I’ll borrow from a manga or anime if I feel the name fits. I just LOVE Japanese names!

After writing out all the names last post I realized a lot of them begin with “K” and I’m honestly not too sure what that’s about. They just worked I guess.

Half of the names I can’t pronounce properly because I’ve never heard them be spoken in real life so I have my own interpretation in my head. But that’s okay. I’m sure a lot of my readers will do the same thing. I remember doing that when I was younger and I would read a name I had never heard of before. It helps keep the personal interpretations of characters more unique, I think.

Tomorrow I have the day off from my day job! Yay! So I might not post because I’ll either be sleeping, chasing my 2.5 year old, or editing. I’ll try to put something up though. I just have to think about what I’d talk about 🙂

Alright! So today I finally get to talk about my story! In this post I’m just going to give a general overview to what the setting is, introduce the main characters and give you a teeny bit of background. This story is one of many, but since it is the one I am aiming to publish in April 2013, I wanted to talk about it first 🙂

Title: Black & Red A Tale of Revenge (not really. It’s really just called Black & Red but that last part sounded cool so I wanted to throw it in :P)

Setting: It’s sort of in medieval times kind of? Think Lord of the Rings and those sort of settings that are common in Fantasy stories, but no elves, dwarves, evil overlord wizards with magic rings etc. It’s that time period when the common clothing is tights and tunics and there are swords everywhere. It’s got a little bit of a cyberpunk taste in that there is basic technology like electricity, radios, running water etc but nothing over the top like computers and cell phones. That’s in a different story. Magic is a strong presence in this world and the principles of magic are built on a system of 5 to represent the 5 elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and Metal. Most magic is made up by combining two or more elements. It is also built upon the Law of Exchange (those who have read Fullmetal Alchemist will know what I mean :P) People who are able to use magic are called “gifted” but there’s no huge discrimination between those who can and those who can’t. The only discrimination is against those born with deep crimson hair. Those born with this hair colour are usually children whose mother’s have died in childbirth. It is rare, as there are advancements in medicine and healing magic, but it does still happen from time to time. These children rarely live to their full potential and when they do, they are either seen as a novelty, or are feared.

It takes place in a single kingdom called “Eikon” which is actually massive in size. Eikon is home to The Institute of Magic which is the only place that one can go to train their magical skills. It’s most often referred to as “The Institute”. The Capital is where the King of Eikon resides and he has The Guild: a grouping of the 5 most powerful sorcerers and sorceresses in all of Eikon. Guild members are identified by a silver talisman they wear that is a sort of optical illusion. It either looks like an abstract linear design, or a chinese-esque dragon.There’s no war and there’s no talk of outside kingdoms and realms. In this story, everything focuses on Eikon alone.

There are some influences of other cultures, mainly Japanese. You will see this in how the characters react by bowing, kneeling in certain occasions, and being overly modest. Other elements of Japan are in the shrines in homes for the dead family members, cremation as opposed to burials, temples and those who run them, how the dead are treated, katana’s being a regular sword-type, some food, words and there are some influences from manga I have read. I don’t want to give too much away 😛

Characters: There are two groups of main characters in this story as it takes place in two separate time frames which then collide. The first group is:

Kalan – She is tall, proud and extremely powerful. She is the daughter of Javier, the most powerful sorcerer in all of Eikon. Javier used to teach at the Institute until Kalan was born. Kalan has red hair as her mother died during childbirth which causes Javier to retire early and raise her. In the first chapter of the book we discover Kalan and her past.

Koen – A tall man with dark features. Quiet, not gifted in the slightest but his senses are sensitive. He is introduced in the first chapter and he lives/serves Kalan.

Alastair – Another tall man (jeez. Everyone is tall!) with long, stringy dark hair. He is very thin, very powerful, and very crazy. He is extremely emotionally unbalanced and will often switch attitudes from that of a child, to that of a blood-thirsty and power-hungry individual. We meet him in about chapter 3 or 4.

The next set of characters are:

Piers – He is descended from Julian. Julian was a powerful sorcerer who grew up with Kalan and was privately tutored by Javier. He graduated from The Institute and served on the Guild. Piers also serves on the Guild and in the beginning of the story he is on a quest to find those descended from the Guild members of Kalan’s time. (ooooo! I just dropped a secret! Did you see it?!)

Aidan – Descendant of Landon. Landon was an arrogant bastard, if I do say so myself. Landon served on the Guild in Kalan’s time. His chief rival was Javier and he held extreme disdain for any one related to him. Aidan and Piers have had a rivalry that extends back to childhood due to their bloodlines. Aidan comes across as self-absorbed and arrogant. He currently serves on the Guild with Piers and is joining him on the search for the descendants.

Vega – Descended from Brann. Brann was a physically overwhelming man who wasn’t extremely gifted like the others on the Guild, but his physical prowess made up for that. Vega has an athletic body and is fairly gifted. She is the second to be found by Piers and Aidan while working in a roadside tea house.

Acacia – Descended from Keion. Keion served on the Guild with Javier, Brann, and Julian. Keion is older than the rest and had been serving on the Guild from the time of the Queen who is in power shortly before Julian joins when it is run by her son. Keion is a grey little man with no self-confidence or self-worth. He is extremely gifted in the healing arts and has made huge advancements in the field and with traditional medicine. He has even written textbooks. But as a man, he was belittled for his talents. Acacia spent one year at the Institute before dropping out from the bullying of her background. She comes across at first as curt, slightly cold, and closed off. She is discovered by Piers and Aidan while traveling as a healer.

Terentya – She is descended from Devin, Javier’s closest friend who also served on the Guild. Terentya was found as an infant and is raised by a mercenary band called The Falcons. She is extremely gifted with the sword and when her adoptive parents are killed on the job she receives her father’s sword. She is able to ‘bond’ with her sword and hear it’s ‘voice’. She is the last to be discovered in a small town where her adoptive parents are buried. She is slightly gifted, but as she cannot read she is unable to study spells and the few she knows she has learned by word-of-mouth.

And those are the main characters in this tale.

“That’s all well and good, Sarah,” you say, “but what is the story actually ABOUT?”

Well, I will tell you.

The story is about a sorcerer, Kalan to be precise, who has had everything taken from her. Her mother dies in childbirth, her father is murdered due to jealousy. When she tries to exact revenge on those who murdered her father, she is trapped in an alternate dimension where she is cursed with immortality and a mirror that only shows her home world. She lives there, for two hundred and fifty years, unable to die, not needing to eat or drink to survive in a grand house in a misty wasteland. By accident she casts a spell which pulls Koen from her native world and pulls him to her hell where he is also cursed with immortality. While she is mourning her life in this hell, she is suddenly summoned back to her home world by Alastair, discovered to be descended through a bastard lineage from Landon.

Sensing the shift in her prison, those serving on the Guild in the ‘present’ are concerned. They dispatch Piers and Aidan to find the descendants of the original five who sealed Kalan in her hell: Julian, Devin, Landon, Brann, and Keion. Only one with that bloodline would be able to bring her back; or return her to her hell.

And thus, the adventure begins. After all five are collected it is discovered that none of them returned Kalan to their world. The rest of the book talks about the journey back to the Capital, dealing with the fury of Kalan’s return and dealing with the inner secrets everyone holds.

I plan to put a few chapters up once I’m finished editing them. I’m currently on page 87/375 so it might be soon! This book is planned to be published in April 2013.

I hope you like what you’ve read so far!

(oh yeah, all this information is (c) Sarah Jayne Nantais, 2013. If you try to steal it, I’ll sue your ass 🙂 I’ve got my copyright all done up 😛 So be good!)

Everyone uses different things when they write. Some people are strictly paper people, never touching a computer or typewriter unless it’s absolutely necessary. Some people can only use electronics and never write anything out on paper.

I do both.

When I was younger (and this was WAY before the days when computers were everywhere and in every home) I strictly used paper and pen. I used to ask for notebooks and pens for Christmas and my birthday because I was always filling them up. One story ‘series’ I wrote when I was 13 was a mish-mash of yellow legal pad paper, lined paper and graph paper because that was all I could get my hands on. It ended up being 120 pages written, double-sided but single spaced.

Unfortunately I have a lost all of my previous work due to unforeseen circumstances (*cough*assholeexboyfriends*cough*) so I’ve had to go off of memory when I try to rewrite them. I remember the core parts of the story, so I suppose that’s all that really matters if I want to write it again.

These days I use both.

I use my laptop:

The majority of my writing is done on this lovely piece of technology these days.

And I also use this:

Given to me by my in-laws, it holds character descriptions, maps, story basics and outlines

I have another coil notebook that I used for previous stories I have written. It holds the same information as well as a list of names for males, females and places so that I can make sure I’m not using the same name in every story I write. The other book doesn’t have quite the same inspirational message though 🙂

I find this useful because when I’m typing furiously away on my laptop if I suddenly forget the colour of one of my characters eyes I can flip to the character description page in this book without having to sift through god knows how much text to find the answer.

It also helps me keep personalities in check, relationships in line, and ages realistic.

Depending on the story, I’ll also draw a little (crude) map of the world my story takes place in. This helps me determine accurate time frames for traveling, weather, culture etc. I’m building worlds here, so I need to make sure I don’t screw up!

Since I write Fantasy-Adventure stories, I find this crucial. Sure, my readers may not be paying as much attention to these details as I am, but I want to make sure it’s believable. I’m sure there’s someone out there in this vast universe who just might pay that much attention to what they read.

What do you use? What do you find useful?

My husband also bought me a Samsung Galaxy Tab that I am looking for a bluetooth keyboard and case for so I can bring it to work in place of my laptop as it will be smaller and easier to tote around everywhere. I NEED a keyboard though. I will NEVER be able to type using the onscreen one. No way.

I never intended there to be a part two to this rant, but this morning warrants it.

Woke up OVER AN HOUR LATE. Today was a flurry of clothing being thrown on, cursing at my hair for not cooperating, wishing I was more talented/had time to put it on with makeup, desperately calling my workplace to inform them I would be late. My husband rushed to get our son up and dressed (he’s only 2.5 years old. Still needs help) as I flew down the stairs to throw all our bags into the truck and start it. There was more than normal today too because I wanted to bring my laptop to work and then we’re hopefully starting potty-training this week so I had extra clothes to take to the dayhome.

Of course, my son hates getting his boots on and getting ready in the morning. So that was a battle. Then once we were in the truck and he was munching on his toaster waffle (I feel like SUCH a horrible parent!) he realized that dad was not coming with us so that incited a cry-fest.

As he’s crying and I’m flying down the highway all I can look at is the clock. How late am I going to be? Will I have to cut back my lunch break to compensate? Was it even worth it to try and get there?

One thing you’ll want to understand about my daily commute: I live in the north end of my city. My dayhome is in the south. My workplace is central. The entire commute from home, to dayhome, to work is about 1 hour or an hour and change. And that’s just for one way.

FINALLY! I get to work only a half hour late. That’s okay. I can take a short lunch. I rush into my office only to see……no one else there.

WHAT?!

I dump my bags on my chair and turn my computer on. With my coat half-open I rush to the administration area to ask the lady if there was a meeting I didn’t know about.

Apparently there was. She didn’t know at first where it was because it had been decided at the last minute. We figured out where it was, I threw my coat on my chair and literally RAN up the two flights of stairs to the meeting room.

I knock on the door, it opens, and…..

BAM! DEPARTMENT MEETING! My super-boss, the DEAN OF MY DAMN DEPARTMENT and almost every single person I work with is all sitting at the table and I’ve interrupted a discussion.

Well, don’t I feel like an asshole.

Needless to say, I’m sure I turned red with embarrassment. What a wonderful way to start my day, let alone start my week.

God I wish I could have just stayed at home and continued editing. I hit page 60 last night, so I was happy about that. My laptop is here with me, but I doubt I’ll get to work on much.

I had been planning to talk about my story today, so I guess that’ll have to wait for tomorrow. Coffee break is over and there’s a line up of students.

I’ve just finished reading the most current volume of my favourite Shojo manga, Skip Beat! by Yoshiki Nakamura when I realized something.

There is a reason this is my favourite Shojo manga. The mangaka is brilliant. I have read something by her before and I felt it when I read her work then, but she is masterful in her craft. Not only are the images appealing, it’s the story. When I read her work, I hope that I can evoke the same reaction from my readers as she does from me. In this series particularly, it’s ongoing and currently 30 volumes are available in North America. During these 30 volumes I’ve laughed, felt my heart skip a beat (no pun intended) in anticipation, cried, become angry, and be satisfied.

When I write my stories, I hope to have my readers feel the same way. I know that I get excited and cry and laugh when I reread my work, but I’m biased as I am the creator. I am pouring a piece of me into everything I write. Every character that I give birth to has a piece of me inside of them, regardless of what they are.

“But Sarah. That’s just writing and that’s just a comic” people tell me. (I get mad at the comic remark a lot. IT’s MANGA DAMN IT!)

So? So what if it is? Do people not laugh and cry when they watch a movie? Or television? That’s not ‘real’ either.

Once, back when I lived alone and had much more time for writing, I was working on a piece I have since lost. I was telling a friend about the story line when I disclosed I had killed off one of the main characters. She got mad at me and demanded the chapter so she could read it (I usually sent it to her as soon as it was done, but I had finished at 3am that day so I told her about it on our way to class). I sent it to her and thought nothing of it. A few hours later I got an angry phone call. PHONE CALL. We never called each other. We just used MSN (this was before texting became such a way of life) when we wanted to talk.

She was crying on the phone. She was so upset that I had killed off that particular character and she wanted me to know. While she was blubbering she told me how mad she had been because she had been so attached to that character.

I have never felt like I actually accomplished something more in that moment, than any other in my life.

I didn’t mean to kill that character. That’s the way the story was going. In order for certain events to happen and for certain emotions and reactions to develop, I had to kill that character.

When I’m reading a manga or watching an anime I will also get upset when a character I like a lot dies, but I understand that that’s the way it’s meant to be.

Doesn’t mean I won’t pout about it.

I want to be that kind of author. It may be presumptuous of me to think that I can achieve something that great. In fact, I am extremely surprised I am going forward with publishing a book.

It’s something I have wanted to do for years, but alas. I have extremely scarce amounts of self-confidence due to various reasons. I am never confident in myself whether it be in my writing, my work, my existence. There are reasons, of course, but that is a story for another day.

As I put down the manga and pick up my laptop to continue editing, I can only hope that the story I have worked so hard to create and bring to life will bring others to tears because they are that moved.

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So Amazon FINALLY got back to me from the correct department to clarify my questions. Only took two weeks 😛

Now I have a new decision to make: Do I go with Kindle Direct Publishing, or do I go with Smashwords? I suppose I could go with both, but to be honest, I’d rather go with one at first and then branch out if I want to.

I’ve already decided what the title of my book is and my husband and I were working on cover art last night. He went to school before he joined the military to be in graphic design so it was fun watching him trying to remember how to do some things.

I managed to do some serious editing last night and now I’m on page 20/375! Although I might go back once more. I plan to do one run of editing, hopefully by the end of this month, and then another run while I’m formatting in March so that I can publish in April and make sure it is the best damn thing I can produce.

I just need more time. Time seems to be a commodity that is rare and valuable. It’s like a secret item in an RPG that you can only get after you defeat the second-last super boss of the game. And you can only defeat that boss if you are at the appropriate level and if you aren’t, you better just run away and come back another day!

Things eating into my limited time:

My Day Job

My commute which is causing me to go to bed early so I can get up at an obnoxious time

Trying to determine that fine balance between working on my book at home while still spending quality time with my family

Ugh.

Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever be done. If I’ll just give up and put it to the side as I have so many times before.

But then I remember my resolution for this year:

“Finish What I Start”

And I have started working on it, so I WILL FINISH IT GODDAMN IT!

Even if it KILLS ME or deprives me of sleep I WILL FINISH THIS PROCESS FOR AT LEAST ONE BOOK THIS YEAR!

I tend to write these posts at my day job as I usually arrive obnoxiously early and have nothing to do. That’s just the way traffic works for me.

IT’S SO SLOW AND BORING at my day job these days. I work for a educational institution as an advisor for prospective students. Since the May term is not one of our higher intakes, no one is coming in these days.

Which makes me want to work on my story. Which puts me in a dilemma. I have thought about uploading the story I want to publish by April to Google Drive so that I can work on it in my downtime (which seems to be all the time). But then I know I would feel guilty doing “personal work” on “work time”. Which is frustrating because I’m not doing anything anyway, so why not work on a personal project?

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!

Why do I have to be such a good worker and pour my everything into my day job?! Maybe because I have bills to pay and it’s impossible for my family if I were to not work full time.

*sigh*

On the good side, I’ve been looking into SmashWords more and I’m really leaning towards publishing with them. I have to review the tax information as I’m Canadian and they are an American company. I haven’t had time to review all their FAQs yet, but I think I might do that on my downtime.

This morning is going to be a staffing gong-show. (Gong-show is a phrase I started hearing a lot when I moved to Alberta from Ontario. It would be the same as “shit show” or “insanity”. There you go. Nuances of Canadian language lesson right there).

I’ve also FINALLY decided on a proper title for my book. The title I had been using was really more of a file name so I could save it under something and not get it mixed up with my other work.

It’s going to be called Black and Red.

“But Sarah, that’s not a very fantasy-adventure-like title,” you say.

That’s okay. Just because I write in that genre doesn’t mean I’m going to have an over-obvious title. One of my other stories (the one I’ll work on publishing next) has a more “fantasy-like” title. Black andRed just suits this one. When you read it (if you read it) you’ll understand more.

Well, it’s almost time for my day job to being. Better crank Styx while I can and dance in my cubicle.

During my adventures in publishing, I am also checking out various platforms to do this on.

At the moment, I have been seriously considering Amazon Direct to Kindle Publishing. It is free to do, targets a massive market, but the major drawback is that it is restricted to those with a Kindle. And now that I am having such a problem getting part of the agreement clarified, my excitement is dying down rapidly.

I know there are other places I can do this through, but with Amazon being such a huge and ‘trusted’ name, it’s hard to look at something I have never heard of before and seriously consider it.

One site I have checked out is called SmashWords.com. They seem legitimate and their market is broader than Amazon as they can publish on various eReading devices and are affiliated with other stores such as Barnes and Noble, Sony, Kobo, Apple iStore etc. This would allow me to reach a bigger audience but they are also a place I have never heard of before, so I am skeptical as I’m sure many people would be.

I have been told that Indigo offers some sort of service like Amazon does and as a Canadian I would like to explore that, however I have found very little information regarding this.

As many new authors (or indie authors as I am hearing them being referred to lately) I am not swimming in money. That makes options like those presented by agencies such as AuthorHouse interesting, yet expensive. While I do believe that you should be investing in your craft, I of course want to do as much for free or close to free as possible. I have put a lot of my time, blood, sweat, and tears into my work already. As for money, I have paid for this website and I currently have an artist working on an image of myself that I will be posting as an avatar or representation of me to the world once completed. I will be paying for that also. Which I am fine with. She is extremely talented and I feel as though she has undercharged me anyway.

So while I edit, apply for copyrights and hope for Amazon to get back to me in a timely fashion I am also hunting for other self-publishing platforms.

For those established authors out there, or even those who have self-published even one book, any information or advice on this topic would be most appreciated.

Thanks everyone! I promise I’ll start posting more fun things tomorrow as I am going to start talking about my book. Even if I can’t release teaser chapters at this time, I can at least talk about the story and the characters to get you all involved, right? 🙂

And the response from the Amazon support team was to click on this other link to go through THAT support page. Which I can’t do unless I sign in. And when I sign in I can’t go further until I agree with the KDP agreement…….WHICH I CAN’T DO BECAUSE I AM CONFUUUUUUUUUUSED!!!!

So everyone has their own rituals or things they need to do in order to write ‘properly’ and everyone will have their own genre or aspect of writing that they are good at.

My thing is music. There needs to be music playing. I am horribly unable to cope with silence so there is usually some sort of noise going on in my house. Right now I’m sitting at my desk in my office with my headphones on as I am very early for work and no one else is here yet. It’s too quiet.

I don’t really have a specific music I need to be listening to. It’s really whatever strikes my fancy. There are a few necessities that need to be on my iPod or iTunes when I am writing though. First and foremost: Stephan Moccio’s “Exposure” album. I friggin love all that piano shit. It’s just piano. It’s beautiful. To me, anyway. Hell, when I got married I walked down the aisle to the song “Zephyr” and it was wonderful. Depending on what sort of scene I’m writing, I’ll throw Mr. Moccio on the iPod or whatever and pound away at my keyboard.

Other times, I need something exciting. This can usually be met with a variety of J-Pop and J-Rock or some good old 70’s and 80’s rock. Journey is one of my more favourite ones when I’m thinking of older music. Do As Infinity or Rookiez is Punkd for my J-Pop and J-Rock. Of course, there is MUCH MUCH MORE that I listen to and that I like, but that would be an entire post of just what’s in my iTunes library, and I’m sure that would be boring as fuck to read. So, if you want to know any more, just ask me 🙂

When I’m stuck and I just can’t seem to make my story move anywhere, I’ll take a break and just let my iPod go through whatever the hell it wants or I’ll read some manga or watch an anime. If I’m writing a battle scene, I try to read or watch something in a completely different area, like a comedy or romance. On the flip side, if I’m stuck developing romantic relationships I won’t watch my Shojo anime or read my Shojo manga. It’s usually Shonen (manga and anime geared to boys so there’s lots of fighting and robots and stuff) that I turn to or something in the mature stream. It’s a nice way to clear my head with something I love and won’t overly influence the current thing I’m fighting. *pow!*

Another way to clear my mind is to play a video game. Right now, my games of choice are Borderlands 2, Resonance of Fate, Tales of Vesperia or watching my husband play Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch on PS3. If I REALLY want to play on PS3 myself, I pull out the God of War series and let Kratos beat the living snot out of EVERYTHING in his path. It’s awesome.

As for the things I know that I usually write on: my heroes/heroines are usually of the ‘tragic’ persuasion. So these people have had such a hard lifeor there’s just something about them that makes everyone around them uneasy and junk. I can’t write fluffy feel-good stories. There is blood. There is murder and killing. There is agony and heartbreak. As I stated before, my stories are not for children and they are probably not to be read by teeny-boppers. Now I understand that just because you’re 14 doesn’t mean you won’t be old enough or mature enough to understand and appreciate the stories I write. I grew up reading Stephen King and John Saul when I was 13+, so I’m with ya there. I’m just saying if you’re looking for something like “Twilight” or “Harry Potter” you might want to look elsewhere.

Will this turn people off my writing? Well, yeah. Probably. But I don’t expect everyone in existence to absolutely love everything I write. I don’t love everything I read, after all.

A lot of the time when I write, I envision what my story would look like it if were an anime or a manga. *heh* Since those are my two loves and that entire culture influences what and how I write sometimes, it’s inevitable. If you’ve never read a manga or watched an anime doesn’t mean you won’t get my stories.

They are fantasy after all. There’s magic, and swords, sometimes guns and fantastical creatures. If you appreciate the basics of fantasy and love fantasy stories for that reason, you may very well enjoy what I write.

I’m currently waiting for Amazon to get back to me about that Direct to Kindle Publishing issue I previously had. Yeah, I’m still waiting. I contacted them again last night so hopefully I will hear something by the end of this week. I really want to start sharing the details of my stories or posting a chapter or two to gauge some reactions. Even if I get a bunch of people hating on my work, I’m still going to go forward with publishing. If there is constructive criticism, I’ll listen to it and see what I can do before finalizing my draft and submitting it for publishing. But I’m not about to stop or change a whole lot just because one or two people don’t like it. Why? Because I said so. Because this is MY work and if I don’t want to do anything different, I won’t.